MME-BHD/BFS/IOM/LCY would all be good ones I reckon.

We can all play the guessing game I suppose.

ABZ to KOI/LSI/HAU/AES/RTM/CWL. Perm any one from that lot!

Of course, only people who'll decide if potential yields & loads are worth the risk are T3.

I have wondered however why they have not launched more from HUY, which is their base after all, or MME.

Any news on how the EMA-ABZ route is doing? Considering EMA is very much a low-cost market, I've heard the route has been struggling a little bit, soon maybe going down to just twice daily.

They could be massive
 

Small routes across the UK are needed. Big Airlines havent got the small aircraft. Eastern Airways do. They could fly everywhere. I thought about Bournemouth as a base but again as you said its close to Southampton. But what about Glasgow Preswick to Liverpool, Doncaster, Newcastle, Humberside, they could have quite a few routes from there. East Midlands to Aberdeen, Inverness, Exeter even. They could have loads of routes but they dont seem to get these ideas:\ .

I would love to see Eastern operate a route or two to Guernsey, we badly need a connection to Leeds-Bradford ,EMA or even Doncaster.

EMA-ABZ certainly has been reduced from 4 rotations to 3, whether that is because of falling pax/yields I'm not sure. Would be surprised if they dropped it further to 2, but at some point I do feel EMA-ABZ could become a loco route, I would say bmi Baby may fancy a crack at it. If/when that happens, T3 may not think it worth continuing.

Similarly LBA-ABZ especially now with Flybe for company could see changes in future but for now T3 continue with 3 rotations M-F.

However T3 will certainly I feel put up a fight on ABZ routes down the east coast - lots of lovely high yield oil business traffic, which is where EMA/LBA perhaps differ.

FRA/FPL (Flight Refuelling if you're my age) have their main base at HH and their northern base at NV. There is a constant movement of personnel between the two units. An airline with the right equipment (24-40 seats) would support two rotations a day between the two. Eastern seems to me to be the obvious choice.

If bmibaby adds a sixth aircraft, then I can imagine that this might be to add a twice daily Aberdeen flight, then others destinations filling in the voids, especially with the apparent success of the BHX-ABZ route. The EMA market is very much a low-cost market, and British Midland used to do quite well on the ABZ with what I think was a Fokker 70. Ryanair won't do ABZ, though the new four times weekly INV starts next month.

I cant ever see T3 going low cost.

Their business model is and always has been to price fares against the first class return rail far and market it on the basis of if you had a days business to conduct, how long it would take to travel by road or rail there and back and how much time would that leave you compared to a an air service which got you there first thing and allowed you to depart as late as possible, still allowing you to be home and refreshed at a reasonable hour.

It seeems to have worked for them so far and suspect it will for a long time to come, mainly because the low cost airlines cannot afford to operate from the majority of airports at the times which Eastern do.

They may have small aircraft, but they don't have small fares...... Eastern specialise in niche routes where there's a small but regular business led market able and willing to pay high prices. The offshore oil / gas industry is a good example.

I'm quite sure T3 DO have lot's of ideas, but unlike the arrmchair airline CEO's they have to consider the commercial viability of routes.

Richard Taylor

I am led to believe that when BE started LBA-SOU the loads on T3 were terrible down to sometimes 4 pax on each flight. All the regulars of T3 sampled the BE service and now the loads are back in their 20's, with many customers saying that the product was not very good or reliable, so I am sure the same will apply on the LBA-ABZ.

With regards to people mentioning LCY from small regionals, the new owners want to attract larger aircraft and have therefore doubled charges which is why T3 have dumped the LCY route from NCL and I am sure they will not start another service from another airport to LCY.

I have also heard that WIC - ABZ -SYY is going J41 from mid February

With regards to Baby doing EMA- ABZ , I know that Baby are doing well with BHX - ABZ but to have 2 737's going from airports which are only half hour away from each other is a bit overkill which is not predominantly leisure traffic

Wheres HH and NV?

Air Humberside

HH - Bournemouth
NV - Durham Tees Valley or Teesside to everybody

Any chance of an IOM - MAN service with T3. The potential is there, a large amount of the flights by BACON on this route are business pax. There was talk that if BACON pulled off this route T3 would move in. Ok the route will still exist under BE but it would be good to see someone stand up to euromanx (3w) because if BE decide that IOM isn't for them then 3w will be able to do what they like.

With thanks to Wellington Bomber. :ok:

Are T3 close to announcing anything new for ABZ beyond the upgrade on the WIC & SYY routes?

red 17 - you're doing a lot of trawling on several threads concerning IOM, looking as if your'e batting for some of the sides and have it in for others. Questions about Cityflyer to London City to knock euromanx out and now Eastern to Manchester to do the same. Care to divulge your interest in the goings on on Fraggle?

Are WIC and SYY Aircraft upgrade due to Passenger numbers or just T3 going to a 2 type operation. What like are the loads on ABZ - SYY any additional services other than 1 a day ?

I am sure Eastern announced last year (from the winter timetable) that ABZ-SYY was going double-daily M-F but they changed their mind.

I think it was because the unit used on the WIC service couldn't fulfil the proposed extra SYY rotation at the times Eastern wanted it to.

At present the SYY is fitted in between the late morning WIC arrival/late afternoon WIC departure.

Again, I think Eastern have said previously that ideally they would want better timings for business pax, which may come eventually, say one morning flight & an evening flight.

Eastern Sim up and running just heard

Surely T3 can`t abandon the London area completely! I know LCY is now really expensive, how about routes from LTN?
With the M25 being widened and the new high speed links into the city, surely this will be a hit for buisnessmen and comuters to 2012.